Sunday

For the longest time, a standard joke about Downtown went like this: The favored window treatment Downtown is plywood.

That always drew a chuckle, but the sad reality was it was painfully close to being true.

The most startling examples were the Laura Street Trio and the Barnett Bank Building.

They occupy a critical piece of real estate on Laura Street, and their deteriorating conditions, especially the bombed-out look of the Trio, shouted to passersby that Downtown was in decline.

After years of effort, those buildings are now being restored as Downtown surges forward.

But other vacant, decaying buildings still dot Downtown and cry out for attention if Downtown is to truly become what we know it can be. We've focused on 10 of those.

They are historic buildings, and for historians they conjure up the sights and sounds of our city's fascinating past and instill the fervent belief that they should be saved and restored so those memories don't disappear.

For developers who might consider such work, the challenges are so daunting and the cost so high that most often the decision is whether it's worth the investment required.

Restoration or demolition: That's the difficult choice.

But as Downtown continues to improve, there should be no argument over this: These buildings can't be allowed to remain as they have for the past two decades - mostly unused and a blight on Downtown.

Genovar's Hall and the Shotgun Houses

One of Downtown's main roadways - Jefferson Street - takes a visitor past four buildings surrounded by a chain link fence topped by three strands of barbed-wire, not exactly a welcoming sight.

One of them is Genovar's Hall. Built in 1895, it was at the heart of a thriving African-American community in LaVilla.

Jazz greats Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday played there.

The building has been vacant since the mid-1980s. It's now just a graffiti-stained, empty shell.

In 1998, an African-American fraternity tried to restore the building. After years of effort and almost $1 million in state and city money, the city took ownership of the property in 2009.

And there it sits today - an eyesore.

On the same city-owned lot, there are three shotgun houses that were built in 1903.

They were originally located on Lee Street, but after being barely saved from demolition as most of LaVilla was razed during the River City Renaissance, the city moved them to Jefferson Street.

They have been there since 1999, slowly falling apart - another eyesore.

The idea had been a good one. The restored Genovar's Hall and shotgun houses would anchor a block that would serve as an active museum recreating the vibrant life that LaVilla had enjoyed before it was destroyed for modern development.

It was a good intention that has gone unrealized for two decades.

Mayor Lenny Curry correctly pressured the private owners of the Berkman Plaza tower that has sat unfinished for years on the riverfront into taking action to move that project forward.

That's a little bit like telling someone to take a speck out of their eye when you have a log in your own.

Owner: The City of Jacksonville

Barriers: Many. But historians say what remains of the buildings is structurally sound.

Florida Baptist Convention Building

Just down the street from the marvelously restored Seminole Club - now Sweet Pete's - is the last building in downtown Jacksonville designed by famed architect Henry Klutho.

Once the structure at 218 Church St. bustled with activity as the tan brick building served as the denominational offices of the Florida Baptist Convention. Today, it's sadly decaying.

Behind the plywood that covers its front entrance, rooms are gutted, plaster is falling from the ceiling and decades of debris litter the floor.

A possible savior had appeared in 2014 when Marcus Lemonis, the billionaire reality-show "shark" who footed much of the bill for Sweet Pete's, bought the building.

But plans to create first a park then a college dormitory within its five stories stuttered and died.

It's sold several times since then. Atrium Properties bought it in early 2017 and has no plans yet to redevelop it.

Owner: Atrium Properties LLC

Old Federal Reserve building

This building completes the "forgotten" block of structures bounded by Hogan, Church and Julia streets. It is the only building on the list that's not vacant.

Now known as the Physician and Surgeon Building, the bank at 424 N. Hogan St. was opened in 1924 in the heart of the city's central business district.

It was where the bankers banked.

It was designed by the city's first female architect Henrietta Dozier, who was born in Fernandina Beach and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1899. She was the first Southern woman to be accepted by the American Institute of Architects and lived in Jacksonville until her death in 1947.

Its stately columns outside have remained nearly unchanged since the building opened.

The interior, however, has deteriorated, although its second floor still contains ornamentation. The building's basement housed the vault and offices.

An insurance company, USF&G, occupied the building in the 1960s. Dr. Paek Naykoon purchased the building in 1982 as his primary care clinic.

Owner: Dr. Paek Naykoon. The building is currently for sale.

Barriers: The interior needs extensive rehabilitation.

Ambassador Hotel

Just down the street from the old Florida Baptist Convention building sit the decaying remains of what - at the time of its construction - was Downtown's most posh apartment building.

Then known only as the 310 West Church Street Apartments, the six-story building opened in 1924 advertised as one of Jacksonville's best; each apartment guaranteed window views due to the unique H-shaped configuration of the edifice.

The apartments had all been rented before it even opened its doors.

Reconfigured as a hotel two decades after it opened, the building went through several name changes before it assumed the moniker of the Ambassador Hotel in 1955.

It's been all downhill from then. Today its windows are boarded with Downtown's ubiquitous plywood and its exterior entrances are topped with razor wire.

Although it was added to the National Register of Historic Buildings in 1983, that did nothing to slow its downward spiral. It became a haven for drugs, and in 1998 the building was condemned.

But its skeleton remains strong.

In fact, in the early 2000s, plans were made to remodel the old hotel, and in 2009 a proposal was revealed to remodel the building as The Ambassador Lofts.

That never came to pass.

Owner: Sam Easton. The hotel is currently up for sale.

Barriers: The building is structurally sound but would need extensive interior renovation.

Richmond Hotel

During an era when "old" translated to "worthless," the city razed much of the African-American neighborhood of LaVilla in the 1990s.

Once a thriving cultural and musical community unparalleled across the country, LaVilla became a sad commentary on the perils of "revitalization" efforts in Jacksonville.

One of the buildings that survived the wrecking ball is one of the area's most significant - the old Richmond Hotel at the corner of Broad and Church streets.

In its prime the Richmond Hotel was Downtown's premier lodging for African-American visitors to the city.

More recently, it became the DeLoach Furniture building, and now the first floor of the building contains DeLo Studios. The old hotel's upper floors, where the visitors' rooms were located, however, are boarded up and dark.

Owner: DeLoach family. Currently for sale.

Barriers: The upstairs floors are boarded, and it has no central heat and air. It needs considerable renovation and remediation of animal droppings.

Jones Furniture Company building

Heading north on Hogan Street, it's easy to see the "Jones Bros. Furniture" on the side of a tan seven-story building that looms over others in the 500 block.

It stands as a testament to the potential hazards of relatives trying to compete in the same business.

Here, R.L. Jones started a furniture company as a rival to his brothers' Jones Brothers Furniture Company that had opened a six-floor building on Main Street. R.L. Jones, determined to best his own brothers, built the building for his company Standard Furniture on Hogan one story higher.

The name on the side of the building actually came much later after R.L. Jones' sons purchased both companies and kept the name to form one of the city's largest family-owned businesses.

At one time, there were plans to turn the building into an office complex, but as so many ideas for aging buildings, this one fell through.

The building has been vacant for years.

Owner: OUR Properties.

Snyder Memorial

If there's a single building most central to the revitalization of Downtown, it may be Snyder Memorial, sitting as it does at one of Hemming Park's corners.

A former Methodist church built shortly after the Great Fire of 1901, the building is magnificent inside and out.

Visitors to the Gothic Revival church are first impressed by its gray granite and limestone exterior, the point nearest the intersection crowned with a crenellated bell tower. The interior is just as stunning, with beams and arches of yellow pine forming its ceiling.

In its more than 100 years of life, Snyder Memorial has stood witness to Jacksonville history.

From its birth during the city's great Renaissance following the fire, to the civil rights actions of the 1960s, to the coming revitalization of Downtown, Snyder Memorial has been there.

But it always hasn't been an active participant.

After the congregation disbanded in 1992, the building was purchased by the St. Johns River City Band, which began holding regular performances there.

But the operation was shaky from the start, and the band convinced the city to take over the mortgage. The building was vacated by the band in 2004.

The city has since requested proposals to use the space on several occasions, but nothing ever seemed to click.

Mayor Lenny Curry's proposed Capital Improvement Plan, which was approved by the City Council, does contain $600,000 for interior renovations of the old church during this fiscal year.

Owner: The City of Jacksonville

Barriers: The city is the main impediment. Let's get this building back up and running!

The Chili Bordello Trio

Jacksonville residents who've lived here a while might remember JoAnn's Chili Bordello at 521 W. Forsyth St., now practically in the shadow of the new Duval County Courthouse.

Here, a host dressed as a madam oversaw waitresses dressed as … well you get it. In its day, the Chili Bordello was a unique watering hole with 15 kinds of chili, although today it would border on the inappropriate.

However, the one-story building the Bordello occupied wasn't always a "restaurant of ill repute." It opened in 1906 and served briefly as both a real estate office and bicycle shop.

The now-vacant building sits next to a pair of other buildings, three of the only structures to remain in what was once a thriving community.

A narrow four-story building directly behind the old Chili Bordello was built in 1910 of brick and reinforced concrete, construction that made it fire-proof in the cautious years of building following the 1901 fire.

It once contained a slaughterhouse, the Voodoo Lounge and, interestingly considering its proximity to the Chili Bordello, a house of prostitution.

Right next door to the Bordello building, at 523 W. Forsyth St., is a two-story structure once called Bailey's Camera Corner. It was moved here from its original site near the Atlantic National Bank, a testament to how buildings were once recycled.

Owner (Bordello/Slaughterhouse): RIM Properties. The building is not for sale.

Owner (Camera Corner): LGS of North Florida LLC.

Barriers: All these buildings need interior renovation.

Claude Nolan Cadillac Building

When it opened in 1910, this building was as luxurious as the luxury cars parked in its showroom.

The stunning building, designed in Prairie Style by Henry Klutho, was like a glittery jewel box. It featured floor-to-ceiling glass windows, inlaid stairwells and a mosaic of the Cadillac crest built into the showroom floor.

It served as an opulent entrance to the Springfield area, situated as it was on the Downtown side of Hogans Creek, overlooking Confederate Park.

Claude Nolan himself died in 1943, and he must have turned over in his grave when his fabulous dealership was "remodeled" in 1945. The inept architect responsible ripped out the building's windows and stuccoed the delicately appointed exterior.

The dealership moved in 1985, and the building served for a period of time as a warehouse for a food company.

Barriers: The city's failure to move forward with the needed remediation on the contamination in Hogans Creek.

Old Armory building

The final building on our list is a grand castle-like structure that once hosted an array of luminaries ranging from then-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to Janis Joplin, who visited just months before she died.

The old Armory at Market and State streets was a focus for Downtown activity, both in the military and social spheres.

Certainly it served the military, but its large auditorium and stage also was a focal point for any number of public events, from the speech delivered by Roosevelt in 1936 to Joplin's appearance in 1970.

Here were also mounted teen dances, wrestling and boxing matches, high school graduations, basketball games and various other private functions.

Jacksonville's Parks and Recreation Department was housed here for 35 years, but it's now been vacant since 2010, despite an unfulfilled plan by the Sons of the Confederate Veterans to turn it into a military museum.

What a shame! This is a phenomenal building with loads of potential.

Owner: The City of Jacksonville

Barriers: This is another property whose restoration has been stymied by the failure of the city to clean up the toxic waste in Hogans Creek. In addition, the creek has caused significant flood damage in some portions of the building.

PAULA HORVATH is an editorial writer and editorial board member at The Florida Times-Union and teaches multimedia journalism at the University of North Florida.

RON LITTLEPAGE has been with The Florida Times-Union since 1978. He started writing an opinion column in 1989. He lives in Avondale.

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